Grimmly Speaking
by Minus the Honey Bear
Summary: Grimmly speaking, Chloris knew what she was getting into. She wasn't sure if the regret was the norm when one was risking their life to save brothers that they haven't even met from a curse. But grimmly speaking, it could of happened to anyone...Right?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer Of Doooooom!: I do not own Brothers Grimm. I am not a brother, nor do I like grims. They are awful things, really. Honestly. Hate the lot of them. Pah! Great word though, and even better stories...**

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Chloris was a fair girl. She was loving and compassionate and cared for many. She was divine and many men of her small town wanted to wed her. She was polite and courteous and virtuous and never spoke foul or anything. Chloris, affectionately known as Rissy, though, was a very sickly child when she was young. Her parents always told her how much they loved her and taught her to do everything right and with precision, so she would not be cursed or tainted. Every day Chloris lived, her beauty grew more and more men came to see her and court her and many tried to marry her. There was one fateful day, however, that changed her destiny.

"Chloris, go fetch some water. We are running out," her father barked at her. Her father had always spoken in harsh, demanding tones, though he had never spoken ill around her.

"Yes, Papa," was her immediate reply, before walking out towards the communal well. As always the gaggle was situated around the well in the middle of the town, gossiping about the ever-so-handsome baker's son. Chloris rolled her eyes and walked straight up to the well, ignoring the unabashed whispers.

"_Oh that poor child..."_

"_Must feel ever so guilty..."_

"_She's certainly beautiful..."_

"_Only that beautiful because of a curse..."_

"_Curse?"_

"_Yes, curse..."_

"_In reality she was to blame for the misfortune which has befallen her seven brothers..."_

Chloris had never heard of brothers before. Her Mama would of certainly told her, of course...Wouldn't've she?

"_Oh yes, turned into ravens, all of them..."_

"_All? _All seven_?"_

"_That's what I just said, wasn't it?"_ The gaggle continued. Chloris finished off quickly and ran off home.

Dinner that night, like every other night for the past week every year, was a silent affair. Only the noise of food being obtained echoed around the silent house.

"Mama?" Rissy asked hesitantly.

"Yes, daughter?" Mama smiled lovingly back.

"Mama...when I was fetching the water today...well, there—there were these ladies—"

"Chloris, what have I told you about women? They are severely jealous of you. Now, leave it to rest, and enjoy your meal." That was her Papa. He believed complications could not be solved unless they were confronted head on.

"Yes, Papa; I always take your words in esteem. But, Papa, it wasn't about I; I would have never brought it up otherwise..."

"Very well. What plagues my daughter's thoughts?"

"They-they...the women at the well mentioned brothers." Chloris's head was bent while she took a sip of wine. She did look up through her eyelashes to catch her look her parents shared, however.

"I'm sure it is just folly—" He mother started, but was cut off with a glare from her father.

"Go on," he said in a patronizing tone. It was warm and level and calm. It was also the epitome of disbelief. Chloris when better than to betray her father's consideration and yell at him, no matter how badly she yearned to do it. That voice angered her. She was no longer a child and she would take this in her stride, like a normal adult. _Oh, how embarrassing if this _was_ "folly"..._ she thought, grimacing inwardly, but continued anyway.

"They whispered I had brothers; seven of them. I marched away before I could hear what became of them; I did, nevertheless, eavesdrop on when they conversed about a curse. Is this true, or is it how Mama claims it is: folly?" Her mother and father sighted, swapping a look. It was time for their daughter to know.

"Their claims are not folly. I am the one who cursed them. You were being christened and your brothers claimed that they wanted to be there. However, they couldn't fetch the water or complete any other simple, mundane task. I do not know how; but they never returned to us. One of our friends, Destriere—"

"But Papa—" Chloris has heard of this Destriere man before. He was French and a wonderful friend to her father before they just stopped talking. No one knew why, and no one wanted to ask. Ever since the disappearance of his sons, Chloris's father had turned into a scary, cold-hearted man who cared only for business and his family. Friends were not to be trusted, neither was anyone else, for that fact. Many times he had thought his wife ill and was certain of the foul sins she did commit (Chloris's mother had done no such thing, but couldn't speak to her husband because she never wanted to start a fight or a disagreement. She wanted the entire world to get along, not that it would, any time soon).

"Do not interrupt, girl! He told us that they had been cursed to forever be ravens, as dark as the night's cover. Then I stopped speaking to him, as I shall stop speaking to you on this matter. It is enough. Now sleep, and do not dwell, fair child of mine. For it was God's grace that punished them and banished them for we could be happy with you." Rissy couldn't argue with that, and she made her leave and went to bed.

Of course, she couldn't sleep. Rissy was a very dependent and naive girl. She had to do something about her brothers, though. She had to do something. She vowed to herself that night that she would take any chance; and opportunity to save her brothers from their awful fate. It was unfair, as she was the one who needed the water in the first place. She should of been punished. Her last thoughts on this subject before she needed to rise for the sun were 'I wonder what they are like' and 'Will they like me?'.

The town was very busy the following week. The happiness and excitement were rolling off of loud, happy couples and children were running around squealing and laughing and causing a mixture of trouble. The first day it was simply delightful, and brought Chloris back to her normal self. She surely would have been brooding over what magic would have been used to bind her brothers terribly, and if she could break it, and if she could, how, and furthermore, what if she couldn't? What if it wasn't even fixable? What if it wasn't even magic...? She went to bed that night and brooded over all those thoughts. She did not sleep and she felt positively horrible by morning. She cried to herself silently before reaching the marketplace.

The second day, walking around her blossoming town running her Papa's errands, she caught waft of the excitement again. Children were acting out small, imaginative plays that held no interest with the adult who continually rolled their eyes and denied to be a part of them. The younger women her age were tumbling and stumbling around, off in their own little words, squealing to their friends while brooding men looked onwards. Chloris thought that something must be happening. Once again, she did not sleep. She cried and tossed and turned but still the thoughts of her brothers would not exit her mind. Not even for a second. Nobody noticed her grief and Chloris kept it that way.

The third day entering the marketplace, Chloris felt annoyed. How could they be so happy when she was not? She was being selfish, but could not help it with the lack of sleep. She saw the children carelessly acting again and envied their naivety and innocence. The women were gossiping and whispering and being in general bothersome. Many looked at each other with hopeful, happy smiles as if they wished something to happen. She did not complete her chores and business that day, for she wasn't feeling herself. She walked home and rested, telling her Mama she was feeling ill, and had a horrible, horrible nightmare about the black night engulfing her.

The fourth day, her mother did not want her to go, in fear of her only human child getting sick again, but Chloris persisted and went straight to it and did her chores quickly so she could get back home and show her Mama that she was fine. Chloris rushed out of the courtyard and her basket was snagged out of her hand by a little boy getting his head caught in it as he was rushing by.

"Oh my, dear boy, my basket is changed!" She cried, seeing her basket with a head-sized dent in the side of it.

"Oh, forgive me, fair stranger. For my brother is clumsy and rude," another boy ran up to her, helping the smaller one up. They looked to be twelve and barely seven and both had fair hair and dark eyes, pointed features and matching hats.

"Not at all, young boys. May I ask why you run?" Chloris asked, curiously.

"For the mean Witch-Queen is after us!" The younger one exclaimed, the older one nodding his head valiantly.

"Witch-Queen? Since when did our town have a Witch-Queen?" An older girl then came racing from the market to stand either side of her brothers. She had the same hair and eyes.

"I believe this is not the Witch-Queen you are racing from?" Rissy arched an eyebrow, curiously.

"Nay, she is not. Will and Jacob would have fought her off easily—"

"And who is Will and Jacob?" Chloris's question received shocked stares.

"They are charming, good-looking, smart, funny..." The girl pitched with a soprano voice.

"Yeah, yeah!" The older brother murmured.

"They are fighters!" The youngest brother jumped onto an empty cart, falling off when the donkey pulling it started.

"Fierce warriors!" The other brother took his brother's former spot.

"Lovers!" The girl sighed, clinging onto Chloris's arm. The boys made faces while Rissy simple muffled her giggles.

"They fought of the horrible Witch-Queen who stole pretty girls for her own beauty!" The older brother exclaimed.

"Like you!" The youngest rushed over and grabbed her other arm. The siblings then all pushed her onto a stool sitting outside a person's house before re-enacting the nowadays popular children's play. It was about two brothers who were brave soldiers who fought against evil witches and magic and saved innocent people harmed by magic. Their names were Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm. More commonly known as the Brothers Grimm.


	2. Chapter 2

**Same as, same as. Never have owned it, never will!**

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Chloris did not tell her parents. They had made it very clear that did not want anything to do with their seven sons. The children had given her an idea; a crazy and selfish idea that she was going to put in action. Very, very carefully she had placed the strip of parchment with her well thought-out words somewhere it would not be found until morning, before they would see, or rather, wouldn't see, Chloris. She felt like she needed to do this and would be forever plagued if she did not. With the images that she had dreamt up for her brothers in the past few days, she snuck out of her house, mounted her horse and rode over to the town in which she heard the Brothers Grimm were staying in.

She was tired from riding even before she had reached the town. She felt sleep coming over her softly, in gentle waves, and she wanted to stay in a small place in a town two days from where her destination was. Her plan was to ride all the way there, tell the Brothers Grimm her predicament and sit back and wait for results (she was a lady, after all. She couldn't get involved, anyway). Somewhere along the line of planning, though, she forgot that she was human; even worse, she forgot that she was a human riding a horse, with a far off destination in mind. She had not packed a thing, except her father's ring to remind her of the parents, and some bread, (_Never mind, _she had told herself, _It just means that I shall travel more quickly with the lack of weight..._) and now that she was acting her plan out, she regretted it all. She wanted to sleep and eat and wash and do something, _anything_, that wasn't ride on a horse. Not only was it getting tedious, it was also painfully sore. She finally sighed and decided to give into her temptations. She dismounted her horse and entered the establishment, talking a deep breath before shoving the wooden door open.

It was different to what she expected, although she did not know what she had anticipated. There was a gathering of minstrels playing in the back of the bar, and heavy amounts of men drinking, latched onto a woman, or in some cases two or three. Chloris wrinkled up her nose and delicately made her way to the back of the pub, where a man cleaning cups was. He looked up and grunted at her untidy appearance.

"Excuse me?" She called out to him.

"Eh?" He yelled back.

"Would you have a room for me to sleep in?" She asked, holding up her small sack, just in case the man was deaf. Apparently, he wasn't.

"A room, eh? I have a room for you. Go upstairs to the left; Room 12. You get your own breakfast. Can you manage that, eh?" He shoved her towards the stairs.

"I'll try my best, sir..." She got cut off as the barman pushed her up the stairs, sending her flying and out of breath. She shook her head, stumbling into her room for the night. Collapsing on her bed, she fell straight asleep and had the first good night of sleep in what felt like years, all because she felt like she was helping her brothers in a small, noteworthy way.

When the light form the sun lightly shone through her shutters the next morning, Chloris shot up. It was not because she didn't know where she was (though, she had to admit it was a great deal weirder not waking up to her bedroom for the first time in her life) nor was it because of the heavy stench of dirt and faeces entering her room and harassing her nose. It was because the barman downstairs had started shouting at someone—two men, it sounded like—about not being able to pay their rent for the night. Chloris's breathing quickened when she realised her predicament was exactly the same. She had no money on her, and she way of repaying the man. She couldn't sell anything because she would, in fact, need to have had something to sell in the first place. She could not believe how utterly stupid it was of her not to think she'd need to pay. She winced, when she realised she had just slapped herself, and then hit herself again when she realised that she had no escape. She couldn't just walk downstairs and lie to that man. It was sinful! Nor could she explain what happened; she remembered the way he had easily pushed her up those stairs last night. She jumped out of bed quickly and knocked a chair out of her opened window in her haste. She paused, hearing it drop not shortly afterwards and ran over to the wooden ledge. Looking downwards on the street, the dirt was not far from where she was. As luck would have it, there was even a cart below her window and she could easily fall into it. Albeit, it most definitely would hurt, just it would be better than getting arrested, as the man downstairs currently was. She could hear his protests from her room. She needed to get out of this building to save her brothers, and the less trouble she ran into on the way, the better. Chloris looked over her shoulder quickly, and saw her pack lying on the floor next to the too thin wooden door. She scampered over and grabbed the material in her hands, before rushing back to the window. She quickly convinced herself to swing her leg over onto the other side of the window and do the same with the other one. With her pack in one hand, the other grabbing hysterically onto the window, matching her hysterical almost silent squeaks and groans, she snuck a quick glance into her room. It looked used, like when she had entered yesterday, but untouched by her. She almost let out a small sigh of relief when she heard the most terrifying noise of her life; she screeching of a cart wheels, and the whinnying of a horse starting to trot in dawn's frost. She looked carefully down not wanting to see the sight below her. Not even twenty feet below her, a merchant was heading out to market early, in hopes of grabbing the best spot to set up his stall. A loud cry of disbelief echoed around the almost empty streets.

There was a pause before some men came running over, crying out repeatedly "Miss? MISS?". She let out a yelp before replying.

"Yes?" It was quite hard to reply, when she was dangling with one hand from a second-story windowsill.

"Miss...Are you alright?" A voice asked her.

"Yes, yes. I'm sure I'll be—" A short shriek cut her off as her finger slipped the tiniest bit. If it was one more millimetre, she would be balancing precariously on the window. As it were, her hand was beginning to hurt and splinters were digging into her hands.

"Steady on, men!" Came a cry as a hand found its way to her ankle.

"What are you doing?" She kicked and lost a little more off of her height. She dropped her bag, hitting one of her rescuers, and grabbed the windowsill with both hands.

"Ma'am, you're going to have to let go," A completely different voice cried out from the crowd. She was appaulled and wanted to protest, when she heard a tapping on her window.

"Eh?" It was the barman from last night.

Chloris let out a squeaky "Okay!" and jumped down into her unready saviour's arms. The two of them fell to the ground with a dull thud. Chloris quickly jumped up and gave the blonde man a happy smile.

"Thank you," she said sincerely, whipping dust off of her dress and making her way over to her pack. "I will never forget this day, or your faces," she gave them a quick curtsy before carefully walking over to her horse, staying out of sight of the bar and its unpleasant owner.

"You're quite welcome, Ma'am!" A group of voices called out after her. She mounted her horse quickly and rode on out of the town at a very uncomfortable and awkward canter. Shouts and yells were heard behind her, and the protest of men before the rode out of earshot.

The next town was a decent way a way. She estimated that it would take her a decent week before she reached it. She chewed thoughtfully on her stale bread, mulling over her morning's start. A small fond smile now played on her face when she thought of it, unlike the feelings after the shock had first subsided. She could practically feel the adrenaline still filling her body and she felt a happy feeling or joy and curiosity and...something that could somewhat could resemble freedom? She shook her head from the thought and quickened her horse, trying to hurry along the travel time. If she could reach a barn or an old mill before dark, that would suit her just fine. She had learnt her lesson fairly and she would not be a fool, for it would take a lot before she repeated it.

She rode through the rest of the day, and had to hide off of the path in some forest during the night, for she could not find a shelter. Most of the week continued the rest of the day, riding through places and walking besides her horse when she felt her muscles get too sore. When the day finally came when she reached the town of her destination, she was ecstatic. Not only was she about to meet, what seemed to be, the two most famous men in the whole of Germany, they were going to save her brothers. Her seven brothers had kept her riding through the remainder of the night, instead of stopping to rest. She had reached it at dawn, and people were starting to rise. She had smiled brightly and trotted all over town, leading her horse to get feed and to lap up water happily. Chloris had given each town person a slight bow and had talked idly to some of the merchants setting up. When the majority of people were running out what Chloris presumed to be the marketplace, she finally started her search.


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so add disclaimer here and whatnot...Also, I've just read over my last two chapters on this story and am dreadfully sorry about all of the mistakes. I hope you realised what I meant. This chapter may be a little under par, 'cause I haven't written with this style for a while now. But no excuses, on with the story:**

The market place was strategically situated in the centre of the small town. Chloris noted with surprise that the town was very much like any other German town she had known or passed through. It displeased her because she expected the brothers to be a little more outgoing with their taste. They did, after all, face the unnatural with their line of work. Chloris told herself that they must enjoy the normality that their lifestyle doesn't normally provide for them. She nodded her head, happy with her answer though not sure if it was entirely true, and turned into a woman running into, what seemed like, every person. Chloris dusted the dirt off of her dress and stood up from her sprawled position on the ground. She, in a very different and outgoing move much unlike herself, reached out for a passing man and asked her if he knew the whereabouts of the Brothers Grimm. The man simply raised a blonde eyebrow and asked her why she wanted to know.

"I wish to speak to them," she answered him.

"It depends what you need to speak about," the man crossed his arms over his chest. Chloris puffed and huffed, annoyed at his less than satisfactory answers. Chloris was just about to turn away when a loud, echoing voice yelled out 'Wil'. Her gaze quickly snapped back to the blonde man who looked like some animal caught in a trap. With her hands on her hips, seething at the man's misleading actions, she waited for who she believed to be Jacob Grimm. Never once did her gaze waver from the man who supposedly fought witches. He however, glanced around, almost like he feared the wrath; the simple wrath of a stranger woman. _The man is brave enough to fight witches of the woods, break curses and is no afraid to face the unknown, yet a simple woman such as myself can break such a brave man with many feats, and turn him into a nervous child again,_ although it was wrong of her, she couldn't help but smirk at her luck of intimidating the young man who would surely help her. Her Papa used fear in most of his business and it seemed to work wonderfully for him.

"Wil, there you are! 'Ve been looking everywhere for you," Jacob appeared at his brother's side, appearing to be out of breath. Chloris looked very smug and Jacob's eyes widened upon seeing the fair, tall beauty, pale blue eyes shining with content. "Hello. Who are you?" Jacob panted.

"Jacob Grimm?" Chloris asked, eyes raking over this brunette who seemed to be the brains of the operation. No doubt he wasn't fit, his breathing was still laboured, and the spectacles hinted long nights spent reading in poor light, straining his eyes. Or they were just a show to make him look smarter. Chloris wasn't sure whether to trust them or not, now that they were basking in her line of vision. They looked, well, less than average. No matter, a grin spread across her face when Jacob nodded quite enthusiastically.

"No, no. You're mistaken, fair lady—" Wil Grimm, however did not seem as excited to meet her and obviously wanted her gone. Jacob, however cut his brother off, placing a hand over the man's mouth so his explanation of her mistaking their identities was muffled.

"Nope, we're the Brothers Grimm. At your service." Chloris was now confused. The brunette one was more excited now that she had expressed interest but the blonde one did not want to help her, obviously. In fact, Chloris realised with dread, she had no idea who they were and was uncertain if they were the Brothers Grimm or not. She knew that every mistake and wrong turn could danger both herself and her mission, but they, the brothers, were both being rather difficult and not giving her a straight answer.

Folding her arms across her chest, Chloris asked her question with a very fine talent of sounding both indifferent to the answer and vaguely annoyed, "Are you, or are you not, Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm?" Wil shook his head no in a fast and precise manner, while Jacob lazily and sloppily bounded his head up and down, signifying yes, in a unique and passionate manner. Chloris was no longer amused or annoyed. She wanted to back out of there, but was confused what to do if they really were the brothers or not. Sighing and rolling her eyes in a dejected manner, she turned her eyes away from the brothers and into the morning hustle of the town. Turning back, the brothers were gone.

Chloris looked around in alarm. _Where did they go? Where did those two brothers go?_ She kept repeating in her head, for it was obvious to her that they were both brothers. She jumped up onto a stool and looked over the heads of the crowd. Wil was dragging Jacob away from her direction, while Jacob was waving his arms around in a comical conduct. She noticed how people cleared the way in front of the brothers, but then blocked her path to them, watching them retreat with a mixture of confusion and awe. Chloris realised that the town folk where confused in the way they were retreating, not the fact that they were. She sighed, hissing curses to Wil in her head. She would need some miracle of device to move the people out of her way to get to the brothers now. Jacob caught her eyes with his and he started yelling and frantically moving. Chloris jumped off onto the ground and tried to barge through the people.

"Oi, didn' your m'aver eva teach you manna's?" The man she had tried to pry herself between growled at her. He was old with silver hair, and pushed her to the ground, quickly turning back to a conversation with a lover, it sounded like. Chloris wrinkled her nose with disgust and apologised, jumping up again. She frantically looked around, looking for something to use. She had put her pack down on the stool, and saw a large stick of wood sticking out from a wagon. She gave it a quick yank, nothing happening. One more hard and hysterical pull and the piece of wood quickly dislodged itself. The wagon started to move backwards at a very slowly speed. Chloris quickly realised this and replaced the stick, not wanting to disrupt anyone else's morning. She picked up her pack on the small wooden stool and quickly rolled her eyes at her insane idea that had formed, while sending a glance to the hard and splintering object. She picked up the furniture, happy to feel that it wasn't too heavy to move around comfortably, and she regretfully slammed the stool into the old man's back. With a grunt of heavy pain and some of shock, he fell on top of his young red-haired mistress. Chloris winced, but realised that she had cleared a small pathway, now that the two bodies were on the ground. They quickly got up, though, due to Chloris's hesitation. Chloris frowned. The two easily angered people were now kicking up a fuss. Chloris really needed to reach the brothers. No doubt they could easily be hidden by her eyes by now. She had to say that with no regret, she knocked the loud couple over again.


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